1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a door lock device for a motor vehicle in which the door latch is forcibly moved from a half latch position to a full latch position by a drive device in order to reduce the door closing force.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional door lock device of this type has been disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application (OPI) No. HEI 1-122162.
The conventional door lock device operates as follows: The latch of the door lock device cooperates with a drive device so that, when the latch comes to the half latch position where the latch barely engages with the striker, the drive device operates to forcibly move the latch to the full latch position to thereby fully close the door.
The drive device has a control circuit which includes a safety circuit for operating the drive device in reverse to permit opening of the door if, for example, something becomes caught in the door while the latch of the door lock device is being moved to the full latch position by the drive device, in response to the operation of the door handle in the door opening direction.
However, the above-described conventional door lock device has the following disadvantage: In order to open the door of the drive device, the door handle must be operated in the door opening direction to cause the drive device to operate in the reverse direction and stop the movement of the latch to the full latch position. As a result, the door cannot be opened until the drive device is placed in the initial state, and it is therefore impossible to open the door immediately when required.